Naughten allocates funding to remove stockpiles of waste tyres

Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten, is allocating €1 million to remove stockpiles of waste tyres that blight the Irish countryside.

The Minister said the level of illegal dumping of waste types is a problem that needs to be met head on. The funding is being made available to local authorities to tackle the most significant dump sites in their areas. Latest estimates from the local authorities suggest there are more than 750,000 tyres randomly dumped in sites around the country, and this is a conservative estimate.

“I am targeting this funding at tyres to clean up our countryside now and to ensure that the detrimental environmental and human health effects of these dumps are dealt with as soon as possible," Minister Naughten said. “I am also supporting the introduction of a new compliance scheme to ensure that as many old tyres as possible are taken out of the system before the scheme is introduced on October 1 this year. The new scheme will reassure consumers that their old tyres will be disposed of responsibly by the retailer when they buy new tyres.”

Minister Naughten has adopted a two-pronged approach to deal with the problem of waste tyres.

“A large part of the reason for this waste problem is a lack of information in relation to the tyres market in Ireland," he commented. "Therefore, I will be announcing regulations within two weeks that will introduce a full compliance scheme for tyres. This scheme, to be run by Repak ELT, is based on the Extended Producer Responsibility principle and will carry out all regulatory functions on behalf of its tyre producers and retail members.

“Membership of the scheme will be mandatory for any operator placing tyres on the Irish market. All operators will be obliged to provide data on the numbers of tyres coming on and off the market. This will be the first time that there will be clarity in this regard."